Photo:Ministry of Foreign Affairs
China and Indonesia have vowed to strengthen cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine during talks between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesian President’s special envoy and the country’s Coordinator for Cooperation with China.
The pair met Friday in southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
Saying that vaccine cooperation is the current focus of bilateral anti-epidemic cooperation, Wang said China is willing to work with Indonesia to comprehensively promote the research and development, production and use of the vaccine, and jointly contribute to the availability and affordability of vaccines in the region and the world.
Wang pointed out that accelerating the joint construction of Belt and Road is a powerful weapon to counter the impact of the pandemic.
The Belt and Road cooperation between China and Indonesia has withstood the test of the pandemic and has become an “anchor of stability” for cooperation between the two countries, he said.
Noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Indonesia diplomatic relations, Wang expressed the hope that the two countries should strengthen cooperation in fields including e-commerce, artificial intelligence, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges.
He said that the two countries should play a leading role in upholding fairness and justice, maintaining multilateralism and the democratization of international relations, and safeguarding the common interests of emerging economies.
Luhut said that Indonesia is willing to focus on strengthening vaccine and health cooperation with China, sign cooperation documents on the Belt and Road Initiative and Global Maritime Fulcrum at an early date, and jointly uphold multilateralism.
